How to Lay Landscape Stones?

Who doesn’t love adding beautiful touches to their outdoor space? Laying landscaping stones gives tempting aura to your garden environment. You just need to learn how to lay landscape stones with right techniques. It will maximize the functionality of your landscape stones meanwhile making it seem aesthetically pleasing. 

Although, before you question how to lay landscape stone, you first must know what types of stone you could use. There are gravels, river rocks, granite, pebbles, and many more. The options are endless. You should decide on the type of rock that will suit your aura.

In this DIY guide, you will get a walk through on installing decorative stones by making it effective and aesthetic. 

How to Draft your Landscape Stone Project?

To assure that your landscaping stone project is effective, you start with drafting a plan. Legacy Landscaping and Design in Tuscon will be your best help for the project. 

You will start analyzing your space and then deciding on the way you will design landscaping area. You will need to draft the area on pencil and paper. 

There is no need for you to be an architect or sketcher to create a blue print. You can do it with drawing some random lines that would make sense to you.  

How to Clean the Dirt and Plan your area?

Once you have your blueprint ready, you start your project with getting rid of the dirt. If you are installing garden stones in your lawn area, there might be some broken mulch there. Here are easy steps to follow,

• First, clean the ruined mulch and other derbis on your area. 
• After cleaning, use measuring tape to decide on how deep your rocks will be.
• You decide the digging based on how you want to lay your rocks.

You can also use level tool to measure the space or deciding either if the laying of stones will be vertical or horizontal.

How to Install soil base or fabric and decide Stones Quantity?

Enough with the planning, now dig the area from top soil which you have marked with measuring tape. The digging area depends upon the type of your stone. For small stones, 4-6 inches deep is suitable and for larger rocks, 6-8 inches are good. Then plod the exposed soil so it will become compact.

Now install a soil base. Make sure to choose the soil with good drainage, a lot of organic matter, the right type, and according to your soil type. 

You can also lay out the landscape fabric. It act as a boundary between sub grade and landscaping stones, so that your stones won’t sink in the sub grade. 

Cut the X-mark on the spaces where you want to put a plant. Then carefully place your plant if you want to. 

Also, install landscape edging if you think your decorative stones will fall of the boundary of your landscape. It gives a more finished and functional look.

After installation of base, it’s time for deciding on the aesthetics of your landscape. As told before, you can decide of several types of rocks incluing gravel, crushed granite, black pebbles, river rocks etc. Make sure to choose the one that matches the ambience of your space.

How to Install Weed Controller or Use Weed Preventing chemicals?

Once you have decided on your aesthetic, pay attention to preventations. Weed can knock down the whole mood of your chilling space. Therefore, lay a week controller fabric over the soil. It keeps the weed under control and avoid the annoying small growths.

Nevertheless, if you aren’t liking to use a week controller fabric, you can use a weed preventing chemicals. You spray the chemical available in market on the installed soil. 

Al though, you use the weed preventation techniques, you will need once every now and then to pick out the growth of weed in your rocks. The growing weeds are inevitable and there is no maintenance free option, so make sure to keep checking your beautifully designed area. 

How to Lay your Landscape Stones?

Now your soil is ready and weed prevented, it’s time for your favorite step. Finally, you can lay your decorative landscape stones now. But first, have your ordered your truck loaded of your desired rocks?
Use a spade to fetch the rocks into wheel barrow. It’s a boring and tough job but do it anyways. 

Now, fall out your rocks into your desired area. With a use of garden fork you can spread all the stones around your landscape. The ideal length for the landscaping stone is 2 to 3 inches but you can decide it yourself for how much you want to lay. It also depends on the inches you have dig in the previous steps. 

How to Add Finishing Touches?

Once, you have install rocks, it might still not look pleasing. That’s because of the extra sand or dirt and obnoxious gaps between stones.

First, the gaps between rocks look incompleted, so you can use polymeric sand to fill the gaps. Or you can also use crushed gravels that will create a stability.

Also, spray the rocks with a water stream to clean the dirt off the rocks. It will be a satisfactory process and removes excess material. With the water, you can see the sand coming off and the variation in the actual color of the rocks. Also, watering will also help your replaced plants get refresh. You will have clean, attractive and finished surface.

Conclusion

The process of how to lay landscaping stone is straightforward but backbreaking. So, make sure you start with a clear mind and interest. From drafting your project area to adding finishing touches, you should do it with your heart. 

And once your landscaping stones are decorated in your outdoor space, keep risening the space every once. Also, keep plucking out the weed growth regularly. You just pull them out with your hand and it comes out effortlessly. 

Keep these safety majors in check every once in a week. So, you can have sustainable, clean and alluring stone outdoor adjustment for a long time.